October 9, 2018
Anyone who has managed in a business or who has worked for a manager or who has been a teacher or who has had a teacher knows that business school does not make one a manager and a college education does not make one a teacher. One who manages effectively and one who teaches well benefits and adds to their strength with education, but they manage and teach well because they are managers and teachers to begin with. It is who they are.
An artist does not become an artist through art school and a singer does not sing because of voice training. However, they certainly do well to take on training if they can get it. They paint and draw and sing and dance because it is who they are. It is who God has made them.
When speaking about the things of the earth, this concept seems obvious, at least to me it does. It puzzles me, therefore, how it seems that there are so many men who are accepted as pastors simply because they went to seminary and they are accepted as preachers because they have learned how to speak effectively.
In the natural, earthly realm, there are things one can teach but the essence of that thing must become known on a deeper level than simply remembering things that were read or heard and repeating them or reenacting them. That is why people say they have a good doctor or a good mechanic. They don't think so much about the training, in fact, they probably don't even check to see if they were trained at all. But they can tell, at times, almost intuitively, whether or not they know what they are doing. People make these judgments all the time.
As in the natural or earthly realm, so it is with the spiritual realm. Or I should say that as it is in the spiritual, it is in the earthly, since the spiritual came first. My point is that since we recognize the difference between cerebral knowledge and deeper knowledge (the sense of acquaintance with something) in our earthly dealings, how is it that this practice of discernment is so neglected when it comes to God's words and ways? If a man has graduated from seminary, he is said to be a pastor. If he can also speak well publicly, it may also be said of him that he is a preacher. This does not mean that he knows Jesus Christ or that he acts and speaks from Christ.
God is spirit and His loving Word is spiritual. It is not possible to deal with God and work in His work and minister with His Word with the natural man running the show. God must be running the show through His Spirit, if it is to be truly ministry. If the Holy Spirit is not in it, it is not from God. Anyone can read a Bible text and repeat what others have said about it. And it would seem anyone does just that - but only that. But, some will say, "look, he is actually reading from the Bible", apparently as opposed to the many who don't even do that. So what! Reading from the Bible is not the same as knowing the author and speaking in His interests. That is only done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not natural; human. It is supernatural; of God, spiritual, and is discernible by those who have the Spirit of God. Others may say, "Yes, but he is of our doctrine." Right. Just because you can read the menu doesn't mean you can cook the food - or should even try. What most would say and do say about discernment is something like: "Who am I to judge?" You are to judge! You are to be watching and listening and judging it all! The largest word in the Bible is not "UNITY"; it is "GOD", specifically, "JESUS".
Generally, people seem reconciled to the fact that the majority of those who say they are Christians have not actually met Jesus Christ. It follows then that those behind the pulpit would also follow the ratio of believer to hypocrite. I suppose my question, however naive it may appear, is "why is that OK?" Why is it rational and acceptable for me to say that I don't want to use a particular dentist because I don't get the feeling he really knows what he is talking about, but if I say that about a guy who is in a pastoral position, I am being mean and judgmental? What do I know about dentistry? Not much, but they are my teeth! What do I know about being a pastor? Nothing. But, I know THE Pastor. I know the kinds of things that Jesus says and does and I know what He likes and what He hates and if you know Him, so do you.
So, what is the fuss about? Why do I get on a soap box about something like this? Because a natural man feeding God's sheep is a danger and an insult. It is dangerous because the spiritual man is always tempted to deny God and do things according to the flesh. The natural man cannot see or teach God's word from anything but an earthly perspective so he is always drawing the eyes of his hearers down, toward themselves - even with the best and most sacrificial and humble sounding language. It is an insult because Jesus Christ has appointed spiritual leaders - where are they!? There are men equipped especially by God to tend to His sheep. What an insult to Jesus to leave this position laying around for the common man to pick up. The spiritual man is not exempt from error, of course, but only he can speak from a Godly perspective, because in Christ, he has this very perspective. It is not theory for him, but reality. This man will draw the eyes of the hearer upward toward Christ - even on accident. Listen to these things:
"For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generations than the sons of light." Luke 16:8
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:12-16
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Heb. 5:12-14
No comments:
Post a Comment